The first chairman of the NPA, John Godfrey CBE, died in the early hours of this morning (December 1) after a two-year illness. He was 67, and leaves a widow, Phoebe, and two step-sons, Guy and Jeremy.
Born in a North Lincolnshire farming family, Mr Godfrey qualified as a chartered accountant in 1971 before returning to the family farming business. He managed an arable and pig enterprise in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, across an area that stretched from the Wash to North of the Humber with his brother, Jim, and two nephews.
Mr Godfrey chaired the British Pig Association and negotiated the merging of the association’s commercial pig industry representation with the NFU’s pig industry representation to form, in 2000, the pig industry’s single voice, the NPA, of which he was the first chairman.
His last major industry role was as chairman of AHDB, from May 2011 to March 2014, where he oversaw the levy board’s early development.
Mr Godfrey was also the key instigator and first chairman of FABpigs (now Assured British Pigs), England’s first fully integrated farm assurance scheme, covering not only pig production on-farm but also feed, transport and processing.
Among other roles, he had also been chairman of Grimsby Birds Eye pea growers negotiation committee, chairman of the North Lindsey branch of the NFU, president of Lincolnshire Agricultural Society and was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 2010.
He received the pig industry’s David Black award in 1997 and was awarded the CBE in 1998 for services to agriculture.
Last year, following a unanimous vote by Producer Group, John Godfrey was awarded the NPA’s first and only Lifetime Fellowship, in recognition of his exceptional service to the British pig industry.
There will be a private family funeral, followed at a later date by a memorial service.
For industry tributes to John Godfrey CLICK HERE